Advice for Psychologists and Therapists Moving to Portugal
I’m a UK trained Clinical Psychologist who moved to Guimaraes, Portugal in late 2018. Prior to moving I had worked predominantly in the public sector and had never been self employed in the UK.
In Portugal my first step was to obtain my residence certificate. As I arrived here pre-Brexit I was able to do this as an EU citizen. However, for various reasons it wasn’t easy to obtain the certificate and it ended up taking much longer than it should have.
Due to the delays in obtaining my Residency Certificate I was not able to obtain Non Habitual Resident (NHR) status and so I am registered self employed here in the same as Portuguese natives.
Obtaining my Certificate of Residence meant that I could finally begin the process of registering with the Ordem dos Psicologos Portugueses (OPP). I expected this to be difficult but it went more smoothly and quickly than I anticipated. I needed a letter from my UK professional body (HCPC), copies of my various degree certificates, a Portuguese language certificate along with the various identity documents (NIF, birth certificate, residence certificate etc.)
Once I had my OPP registration I was able to start practicing as a Psychologist in Portugal. However, as I intended to mostly work with clients in the UK I needed professional indemnity insurance that would cover me to work with clients outside of Portugal. This proved to be one of the biggest hurdles I encountered but after many months of searching I did eventually find a policy with the very helpful brokers from Optirisk Optirisk — Consultores de Seguros — Consultoria e Mediação de Seguros.
As a practicing psychologist I was also legally required to register with Entidade Reguladora da Saude (ERS). Since then I have been working solely via Zoom with clients in the UK and English speaking clients in Portugal. I have also developed a small, informal network of English speaking Portuguese clinicians and other clinicians, like me, who are working in Portugal but are not Portuguese.
Over time I have become aware that there are psychologists and psychotherapists who are moving to Portugal with the intention of practicing here who seem to be under the impression that Psychological therapy is unregulated in Portugal and that they are free to start working here with clients on the basis of qualifications obtained abroad.
Unfortunately, as far as I’m aware there is no single official document that sets out the requirements for psychologists who trained outside of Portugal to practice here legally and so I’m writing this post to share what I know on the proviso that psychologists should also seek individual advice from each relevant organisation based on their personal circumstances before deciding whether or not start working in Portugal. I’m just sketching an outline to illustrate the ways that Psychology is, in fact, regulated in Portugal.
Legal requirements to practice as a psychologist in Portugal
One of the most important thing to know is that in Portugal ‘Psicologo/a’ is a legally protected title and so you are breaking the law if you use that title in Portugal and you are not registered with the OPP as a psicologo/a. FAQ | Ordem dos Psicólogos (ordemdospsicologos.pt)
Some non Portuguese clinicians may think that they can get around this by practicing with a different title to Psicologo/a. However, Portuguese law also defines psychological practice:
And so, if your practice includes what is legally defined as ‘psychology’ even if you do not call yourself a psychologist you might be breaking the law.
In Portugal psychologists are also legally required to be registered with Entidade Reguladora da Saude ERS — Obrigatoriedade de registo na ERS One of the requirements to obtain ERS registration is being registered as a psicologo/a with OPP.
Other recommendations
I have been alarmed by clinicians/ therapists arriving in Portugal with the intention of very quickly starting a private practice without any basic understanding of the relevant health and social care systems in Portugal.
In order to practice safely it is of course a fundamental requirement to know how to access emergency support for a client or how to make a safeguarding referral. I would highly recommend accessing clinical supervision from an experienced Portuguese psychologist in order to gain an understanding of these processes before starting working with clients in Portugal.
In my experience, I have been impressed by the knowledge and level of professionalism of Portuguese psychologists and my connections with Portuguese colleagues has been invaluable.
Another strong recommendation I have is to start learning Portuguese as soon as you can and as best you can. There may be other professions where non Portuguese people can work easily without speaking Portuguese but in Psychology even if you are only working with English speaking clients you will need Portuguese if you need to liaise with local health and social care providers and also if you need to raise concerns or make enquiries with OPP or ERS. Being confident in Portuguese will also help you to integrate better generally and also with the psychology professional community.
In Sum:
As part of your decision making process on moving to Portugal you should make sure that you are well informed on the legal definition of psychology in Portugal, whether you can meet the requirements to register as a psychologist in Portugal and whether you are able to obtain professional indemnity insurance.
I highly recommend contacting the following organisations to discuss your personal circumstances in order to make a decision:
https://www.ordemdospsicologos.pt/pt/contactos
https://www.ers.pt/pt/prestadores/perguntas-frequentes/faqs/obrigatoriedade-de-registo-na-ers/
Thank you for reading. I do not have the capacity to reply to any individual questions or enquiries but if you think that anything I’ve written is incorrect or I have missed anything out please do let me know.